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BSE: Experimental Research
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether the BSE infected brain homogenate fed to the experimental calves at the Central Veterinary Laboratory, Weybridge, had been cooked at a temperature above 100°C, or whether it was administered in a raw state.[HL362]
The Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Donoughue): BSE infected brain homogenate was fed in a raw state to calves at the Central Veterinary Laboratory, Weybridge, in the course of research into BSE.
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What was the origin of the calves used in the BSE research conducted at the Central Veterinary Laboratory, Weybridge; what was their breeding; and whether they or their dams were ever treated with warble fly dressings approved by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.[HL363]
Lord Donoughue: The calves used in the Pathogenesis Study of BSE at the Central Veterinary Laboratory were sourced from 12 farms with no history of confirmed cases of BSE. Apart from the requirement that the calves were Friesian/Holstein and male, no other specific selection criteria were applied because it was not possible (or desirable) to source all the calves for one experiment from a single farm and not possible therefore to control all variables. Consequently, calves are allocated to challenge and control groups in the experiment in a random manner to eliminate bias as a result of influences determined by the source farm.
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many cattle were the subject of research into BSE at the Central Veterinary Laboratory, Weybridge; how many were slaughtered at what ages; how many of the slaughtered cattle demonstrated positive results of infectivity; and how many demonstrated negative results for BSE infectivity at each age.[HL364]
Lord Donoughue: Forty calves were used in the study of the Pathogenesis of BSE at the Central Veterinary Laboratory, Weybridge. All available interim results of their ages at slaughter and the demonstration of infectivity in their tissues are published (Wells et al 1998 Veterinary Record 142, 103-106) and further details of infectivity in tissues of these cattle will be published when available.
BSE Cases
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What is the total number of cattle which have been diagnosed as suffering from BSE from 1986 to date, listed by breed; and whether they will indicate which of them were purebred, or crossbred with the breed of the dam.[HL366]
Lord Donoughue: The following table lists the total number of cattle in Great Britain which have been diagnosed as suffering from BSE from 1986 to 4 February 1998. The cattle are shown by breed, including crossbreed. There are no records kept centrally of BSE cases indicating the breed of the dam.
| Breed | BSE cases |
| Unknown | 2,683 |
| Aberdeen Angus | 137 |
| Aberdeen Angus x | 1,317 |
| Ankole | 2 |
| Ayrshire | 1,666 |
| Ayrshire x | 98 |
| Bazadaise | 1 |
| Belgian Blue | 84 |
| Belgian Blue x | 118 |
| Belted Galloway | 2 |
| Black Her x | 9 |
| Black Hereford | 1 |
| Black Limousin x | 1 |
| Blonde D'Aquitaine | 59 |
| Blonde D'Aquitaine x | 100 |
| Blue Grey | 12 |
| Blue Grey x | 3 |
| Blue Roan | 3 |
| British White | 44 |
| British White x | 9 |
| Brown Swiss | 40 |
| Brown Swiss x | 58 |
| Canadian Angus | 1 |
| Canadian Angus x | 2 |
| Canadian Guernsey | 1 |
| Canadian Holstein | 1 |
| Charolais | 424 |
| Charolais x | 617 |
| Chianina x | 4 |
| Devon | 32 |
| Devon x | 105 |
| Dutch Holstein | 1 |
| Friesian x | 466 |
| Friesian/Holstein | 143,040 |
| Galloway | 7 |
| Galloway x | 20 |
| Gelbvieh | 20 |
| Gelbvieh x | 17 |
| Gloucester | 1 |
| Gloucester x | 1 |
| Guernsey | 1,510 |
| Guernsey x | 40 |
| Hereford | 589 |
| Hereford x | 8,439 |
| Highland | 20 |
| Highland x | 3 |
| Holstein x | 404 |
| Jersey | 1,484 |
| Jersey x | 89 |
| Limousin | 442 |
| Limousin x | 2,325 |
| Lincoln Red | 10 |
| Lincoln Red x | 3 |
| Longhorn | 10 |
| Luing x | 4 |
| Marchigiana | 2 |
| Meuse Rhine Issel | 19 |
| Meuse Rhine Issel x | 18 |
| Murray Grey | 30 |
| Murray Grey x | 28 |
| Normandy x | 2 |
| North Devon | 14 |
| North Devon x | 35 |
| Old English White | 1 |
| Piedmontese | 6 |
| Piedmontese x | 7 |
| Red Friesian | 288 |
| Red Friesian x | 5 |
| Red Holstein | 7 |
| Red Holstein x | 1 |
| Red Poll | 39 |
| Red Poll x | 3 |
| Romagnola | 2 |
| Romagnola x | 4 |
| Saler | 5 |
| Saler x | 5 |
| Shetland | 1 |
| Shorthorn | 244 |
| Shorthorn x | 127 |
| Simmental | 483 |
| Simmental x | 2,034 |
| South Devon | 112 |
| South Devon x | 22 |
| South Down | 1 |
| Sussex | 48 |
| Sussex x | 97 |
| Welsh Black | 56 |
| Welsh Black x | 34 |
| White Park | 2 |
| Total cases | 170,361 |
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Donoughue: The following table shows the total incidence of BSE for each county in the United Kingdom from 1986 to 1997 inclusive.
Lord Lucas asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the remarks of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) quoted by Lord Donoughue on 27 January (H.L. Deb., Col. 150), whether the CMO would have modified his advice on the necessity of de-boning beef if the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee's (SEAC) estimate of the most likely number of infected animals entering the food chain in 1998 had been (a) two; (b) one; or (c) none (all other things being equal); and, if so, what such modified advice would have been.[HL369]
Lord Donoughue: The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) bases his advice to Ministers on the available evidence, rather than theoretical speculation.
On this occasion, BSE infectivity had been found in the dorsal root ganglia and bone marrow, tissue not covered by regulations preventing it from entering the human food chain. The CMO has consistently taken the view that it would be wrong to knowingly allow material which might contain BSE infectivity to enter or remain in the human food chain.
Minsters accepted that the risk of contracting new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from exposure to this material, although very small, was real. Because the protection of public health is a priority for this Government, we decided that action was necessary to ensure that material that could convey infectivity was removed from the human food chain.
What was the incidence of BSE for each county in the United Kingdom from 1986 to date.[HL367]
County Total of BSE confirmed herds as at 31.12.97 Total herds at risk* Total herd incidence per cent. as at 31.12.97
Cleveland 66 168 39.29
Cumbria 1,656 5,000 33.12
Durham 331 1,255 26.37
Tyne & Wear 19 101 18.81
Northumberland 443 1,356 32.67
S. Yorkshire 171 538 31.78
N. Yorkshire 1,744 4,198 41.54
W. Yorkshire 306 1,391 22.00
Humberside 255 764 33.38
Cheshire 1,265 2,285 55.36
Derby 798 2,205 36.19
Hereford & Worcs. 718 2,376 30.22
Lancashire 1,273 2,630 48.40
Leicester 537 1,235 43.48
Merseyside 28 87 32.18
Nottingham 174 530 32.83
Shropshire 1,074 2,659 40.39
Stafford 1,029 2,724 37.78
Warwick 338 895 37.77
Gt. Manchester 67 596 11.24
W. Midlands 34 161 21.12
Bedford 71 201 35.32
Cambridge 100 372 26.88
Essex 140 462 30.30
Hertford 132 285 46.32
Lincoln 254 1,009 25.17
Norfolk 436 1.031 42.29
Northampton 246 601 40.93
Suffolk 268 581 46.13
Berkshire 123 274 44.89
Buckingham 281 663 42.38
Hampshire 525 961 54.63
Isle of Wight 90 215 41.86
Kent 294 785 37.45
Gt. London 15 76 19.74
Oxford 330 707 46.68
Surrey 186 454 40.97
Sussex East 319 727 43.88
Sussex West 352 592 59.46
Cornwall/Scilly 1,850 3,927 47.11
Devon 2,749 6,256 43.94
Dorset 1,092 1,625 67.20
Gloucester 632 1,394 45.34
Avon 484 931 51.99
Somerset 1,796 2,962 60.63
Wiltshire 1,002 1,419 70.61
Clwyd 744 2,136 34.83
Dyfed 2,304 6,828 33.74
Powys 1,032 3,446 29.95
M. Glamorgan 80 460 17.39
S. Glamorgan 80 241 33.20
W. Glamorgan 55 425 12.94
Gwent 309 1,086 28.45
Gwynedd 427 2,428 17.59
Western Isles 1 383 0.26
Shetland 10 241 4.15
Orkney 56 860 6.51
Highland 170 2,038 8.34
Grampian 557 2,398 23.23
Tayside 255 920 27.72
Fife 118 369 31.98
Lothian 87 327 26.61
Borders 226 819 27.59
Central 83 489 16.97
Strathclyde 794 3,722 21.33
Dumfries & Galloway 823 2,328 35.35
* June 1992 Agricultural Census data.
Total of BSE confirmed herds Total of herds at risk Total herd incidence per cent
County as at 31.12.97 as at 31.12.97
Antrim 290 3,454 8.4
Armagh 95 2,580 3.68
Down 217 3,314 6.55
Fermanagh 104 3,231 3.22
Londonderry 207 2,601 7.96
Tyrone 266 5,308 5.01
Further to the remarks of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) quoted by Lord Donoughue on 27 January (H.L. Deb., col. 150), whether the CMO would have modified his advice on the necessity of de-boning beef if the level of infectivity detected in the dorsal root ganglia had been (a) 10 times or (b) 100 times lower (all other things being equal); and, if so, what the modified advice would have been; and[HL368]
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